


Providence, 10 years later

by nightswatch



Series: Aces Rookies in Love [5]
Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: Communication, Fluff, M/M, Retirement
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-03
Updated: 2017-07-03
Packaged: 2018-11-23 00:38:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,958
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11391738
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nightswatch/pseuds/nightswatch
Summary: Ten years after getting traded to the Providence Falconers, Ezra Stevens has a husband, a house, and a cat. And he still has plans.





	Providence, 10 years later

**Author's Note:**

> Written for a prompt I got on tumblr.
> 
> I accidentally invented another hockey team. Oopsies.

Stevens walks out of his last game with the Connecticut Crows with two assists and a smile on his face.

At this point, he’s not sure if it’ll actually be his last game, but he can’t deny that it’s been on his mind. He’s not thinking about it when he leaves the ice, though. He’s not disappointed that he didn’t get another chance to win the Cup. Of course he would have loved to lift it one more time, he would have loved to see the grins on his teammates’ faces, but he’s not sure if anything could ever compare to winning the Cup with the Falcs. With Kelly. He’ll never forget the smile on Kelly’s face when he handed Stevens the Cup.

The Crows won their last game of the regular season, and even though that’s the end for them until September, everyone’s smiling and patting each other on the back. They would have needed three more points to clinch a playoff berth. The guys deserved it; they all worked hard, but it wasn’t enough in the end.

If he was a few years younger, Stevens would love to come back here in the fall, would love to spend another year with this team, give it another try, but it’s all up in the air for him at the moment. He doesn’t even know if the Crows would offer him a contract extension.

He needs to talk to Kelly about is.

Kelly isn’t here tonight. He’s in Seattle, about to play his last game of the regular season with the Falconers. The Falcs are headed to playoffs for the first time after missing out on a spot during the last two seasons.

Stevens got traded two years ago, so he was still there for one of the seasons the Falcs didn’t make it. They needed a change and the Crows weren’t part of Stevens’ no-trade list. They’re a fairly new team, they’ve only been around for five years, but they’re close to Providence, so all Stevens said to Kelly when it happened was, “It could be worse.”

He has an apartment in Hartford, but during the season he drove back to Providence as often as he could. He didn’t like the thought of Kelly with no one but Crowley at home to keep him company. The first season Stevens was in Hartford, Kelly had one of the rookies staying with him, but this year it was just him. And the cat.

Stevens did get a lot of pictures of Kelly with Crowley, usually just a big black blob with ears, curled up next to him, but he also occasionally got texts saying something like, _come home the cat wont cuddle me :((_. And most of the time Stevens couldn’t come home and their schedules clashed and on some days they didn’t have time for more than a five-minute phone call.

But on other days, Kelly showed up in Hartford in a Crows jersey with Stevens’ name on the back, and sometimes Stevens got back home to Kelly sleeping on his tiny couch when the Falconers had an earlier game. Sometimes Stevens drove to Providence in the middle of the night, because he wanted to fall asleep next to Kelly. Sometimes they were okay.

Actually, they were okay for the entire two years they spent living in different cities. It worked out almost like Kelly said it’d work out way, way back in the day, when Stevens still played for the Schooners, although Stevens will never know if it really would have worked out back then. They were younger, and there were even more miles between them. Stevens believed they could pull it off. He still does.

Stevens doesn’t drive to Providence that night, but he texts Kelly once he’s off the ice.

His new teammates didn’t give him shit about having a husband. As far as he knows, he’s the only one on the team who’s in a relationship with a guy, but it’s never been an issue. There’ve been some comments and jokes that Stevens would have rather not heard, but while he approached those with a _heard it all before_ kind of attitude, Mikey wouldn’t have any of it.

Mikey’s only twenty-three, but he’s been the Crows’ captain since the season Stevens got traded to Connecticut. He’s still growing into his role, but he’s doing a good job. The Crows rotate their As, but Stevens has been wearing it more often than not.

“See, now we’re both captains,” Kelly said when Stevens had an A on his jersey for the first time. “Sort of, at least.”

Kelly’s been wearing the A for the Falconers for seven years. When they first played against each other and they were both wearing the A, Kelly printed out a picture of them talking to each other on the ice the next day. It’s pinned to their fridge in Providence.

When Stevens gets home that evening, he watches Kelly’s game. The Falcs have called up a lot of guys from their farm team for the last game of the season and Kelly has two rookies on his line. One of them scores towards the end of the second period and Kelly’s beaming when he picks up the puck for him.

Stevens falls asleep on the couch, hugging one of his pillows.

He can’t wait to go home.

*

Kelly is still at the rink when Stevens pulls into their driveway. Traffic was on the verge of hellish, but Stevens forgets all about that when he’s finally parked in front of their house. He was here only two weeks ago, but it feels like half a year.

He takes his time carrying his things inside, then he goes to the grocery store and buys all of his and Kelly’s favorite food to fill up their half-empty fridge. Crowley watches him put together a lasagna – Stevens’ will never be as good as the one Kelly’s grandma used to make, but he knows it’ll put a smile on Kelly’s face regardless.

Stevens has his mind on dessert when the front door opens and Crowley darts away to greet Kelly. Kelly himself appears in the kitchen a moment later, carrying Crowley.

“Hey, I’m home,” Stevens says.

“I can see that.” Kelly gently sets down Crowley. “Actually, I saw your car in the driveway.” He walks up to Stevens and pulls him into a hug. “Hi.”

“Hey,” Stevens says. “I was just about to make dessert.”

“God, I love having you home,” Kelly mumbles into Stevens’ shirt.

“There’s lasagna in the fridge as well, it’s ready to go into the oven.”

“Love you.”

Stevens kisses the top of Kelly’s head. “I know.”

Kelly lightly rubs his back, clearly not planning on letting go of Stevens any time soon. “You should have gotten that playoff spot, though. I could deal with you not being here because we’d be seeing each other on the ice.”

“Would you seriously enjoy playing against me in the playoffs?”

“I mean, I couldn’t even be _that_ sad if we lost. I’d be way too busy being proud of you.”

Stevens laughs. “Yeah, good point.” He always liked playing against the Falcs, because it meant seeing Kelly, and Kelly always made a point in finding Stevens after each game, no matter who won, and posted a picture of them on his Instagram – _still friends_  – but a playoff loss stings worse than a loss in the regular season.

“Hmm…” Kelly gives him a tight squeeze. “I missed you.”

Stevens wonders if now would be a good time to tell Kelly that he might not go back to Hartford next season, but he’s not even a hundred percent sure yet, it’s just that he’s had too many injuries to deal with and he notices that he’s getting slower and it feels like it’s time.

But he just got home and this is something they need to discuss when they both don’t have a billion of other things on their minds. Half of Kelly’s thoughts are probably still at the rink. Today’s for cuddling on the couch and eating lasagna and watching movies. Today is for being here, for being together, for knowing that they have an entire summer ahead of them.

In his head, Stevens already has a whole list of things he wants to talk about, but for now he’ll hug Kelly in their kitchen. That’s good enough.

*

The Falconers lose Game 7 of the second round. On home ice. Kelly doesn’t say much after, he just crawls into bed and cuddles up to Stevens wearing one of Stevens’ old Falconers shirts.

Kelly is going to be fine, it’s not the first time he’s lost a Game 7, but it still hurts. Stevens understands, he’s been there. For almost a decade, they got to leave the ice together after wins, and after losses, and maybe that made things a little bit easier.

“We were so close to the Conference Finals,” Kelly whispers.

“I know.”

“I hate this.”

Stevens nuzzles into Kelly’s hair. “I’m sorry.”

“Next year,” Kelly says and gently pats Stevens’ chest. “One of us is gonna do it next year.”

“You will,” Stevens says.

“No, you.”

“No,” Stevens says, “you.”

Really, it’ll be Kelly.

Now is definitely not the right time to talk about this, but Stevens has pretty much made his decision. There’s a life after hockey and he’s ready to see what it’s like. He doesn’t need to go through another season with several injuries to prove something to himself, or to anyone else.

Kelly sighs softly. “Ez?”

“Yeah?”

“Are you making me pancakes tomorrow morning?”

Stevens laughs, because _of course_ Kelly is thinking about pancakes right now. “Yeah, as many pancakes as you want.”

“Good,” Kelly says. “With loads of chocolate chips, yeah?”

“Yeah,” Stevens says.

“And whipped cream.”

“Sure.”

“And…”

“Strawberries?” Stevens suggests. Kelly never grew into liking vegetables, but at least he’ll eat some fruit. Especially if it comes with pancakes.

“Sounds good.”

“You know, I could make chocolate batter with chocolate chips,” Stevens says.

“Shit, now you’re really going for the Best Husband award, aren’t you?”

“What if I also make chicken parmesan for dinner tomorrow?”

“You’re the best,” Kelly says. “Seriously, the best. I’m glad you’ll be here when I come home tomorrow.”

“Me too,” Stevens says. Coming home to Kelly, or being here when Kelly comes home always makes him smile. They’ve been together for over ten years and Stevens would lie if he said that he feels exactly as he did back then. They’re even closer than they were all those years ago, they know each other inside and out, and maybe, when he’s feeling sappy, he’d say that he loves Kelly even more than he used to. If that’s even possible.

Kelly yawns. He blinks at Stevens with tired eyes, a tentative smile tugging at his lips.

“Get some sleep, okay?” Stevens says. He brushes Kelly’s hair out of his face. It got long towards the end of the regular season and even longer during the playoffs. He shaved the second he got home, though. Not that his playoff beard was that impressive. Well, it was better than it used to be, better than six years ago when they won the Cup together and their post-season was even longer.

Six years. It’s been six years.

Stevens slowly drags his fingers through Kelly’s hair. It all went by so fast, and suddenly Stevens was on a different team, and they both knew they wouldn’t get another chance to win the Cup together. But they did win it together once, and sometimes Stevens still can’t believe that they were lucky enough for it to happen at all.

“Okay,” Kelly mumbles, closes his eyes and wiggles closer.

*

Stevens lets a few days go by before he brings it up.

Kelly is sitting on the back porch, on the porch swing they got when they bought the house. Kelly always says it reminds him of home. Somehow, it reminds Stevens of home too.

Stevens waits for Kelly to look up from his phone. He’ll go right for it. “Kells,” he says, “do you think you’d get annoyed if I was hanging out here full-time again?”

“What… You know, driving to Hartford from here probably isn’t gonna be that much fun.”

“I wouldn’t be driving to Hartford.”

Kelly frowns. “Why wouldn't you– Oh.” He makes a face, already putting two and two together. “You want to retire? Are you sure?”

“Yeah,” Stevens says. He sits down next to the Kelly, the swing swaying ever so slightly.

“Seriously? I know you’d need a new contract, but you’re only thirty-seven and I’m pretty sure they’d re-sign you for another year if you–”

“Kells,” Stevens interrupts, as gently as he can. He takes Kelly’s hand. “I know you don’t even want to think about retiring right now, and I’m sure you’re gonna play for another ten years if you can, but I… I think it’s the right thing for me to do.”

“Why?”

“I don’t want another season full of injuries.”

Kelly remains silent. He’s listening.

“My knee’s been a problem for ages.”

Kelly sighs.

“It’s the right thing to do.”

“You’ve thought about this,” Kelly says.

“Of course I’ve thought about this. I’ve been thinking about it for a while.”

“You never said a word.” Kelly shakes his head. “I just don’t want you to be sad. You love playing hockey.”

“I won’t be sad,” Stevens says. “I’ll be here.”

Kelly smiles, his eyes crinkling. “It’d be nice to have you here again.”

“Yeah,” Stevens says.

Kelly leans against him, and Stevens gives them a push to send the swing swaying back and forth again. Stevens feels lighter now that he’s not carrying this around with him anymore. He could have said something earlier, but today was the right day to talk about it. Stevens wasn’t expecting them to fight about it, but it still made him nervous.

Crowley comes prancing outside and curls up in a patch of sunlight on the porch steps.

“So,” Kelly says, fingers trailing up and down Stevens’ thigh like an afterthought, “what do you wanna do? When you’re retired, I mean? Because we both know that you’re gonna get bored of just watching games.”

“I’m not sure…” That doesn’t mean Stevens hasn’t thought about it. “I thought I could talk to the You Can Play guys. And there’s a bunch of youth hockey programs in the area, and I do want to come to your games and hang out with the wives. And…”

“And?”

It’s been two years since they last talked about this. It was completely off the table after that, but if Stevens retires, they could put it back on the table. “Remember when you said that maybe someday you’ll want kids? Or one kid, for starters.”

“Oh,” Kelly says.

With both of them playing hockey in different cities it wouldn’t have worked out, not in a million years. But now… “I was just thinking, maybe we could look into it. At some point.”

“Yeah, we, uh…” Kelly says. “Sure. We could.”

Stevens doesn’t miss the reluctance in Kelly’s voice. Maybe he caught him off guard. Or maybe it’s more than that. “Unless you’ve changed your mind?”

“No, it’s not that.” Kelly squirms away from Stevens, looking at him with wide eyes. “I mean, are we… are we ready for that?”

“I am,” Stevens says quietly.

Kelly doesn’t reply.

Stevens knows him, he doesn’t have to guess, but he doesn’t want to put words into his mouth either. “But you’re not?” he asks.

A good minute ticks by and Kelly’s clearly thinking about this. Eventually, he says, “I don’t know. I mean, I said _maybe_ I’ll want kids, I didn’t say… Okay, you know what, I really, seriously don’t know what I want.”

“Okay,” Stevens says.

“Don’t be mad.”

“I’m not.”

“Are you sure?”

“I promise I’m not mad,” Stevens says. “I shouldn’t have brought it up out of the blue like this, I’m sorry. Think about it?”

“Yeah.”

“We’ll talk about it some other time.” Stevens pulls Kelly back against him and swiftly changes the topic. Today clearly wasn’t the right day to talk about _everything_. “By the way, my mom texted me this morning and asked if we wanted to come by for Independence Day.”

“Yikes,” Kelly says. “Well, we were at my parents’ place for Canada Day last year, so I guess it’s America’s turn, huh?”

Stevens hums and gives Kelly a kiss. “Guess so.”

*

Stevens can hear the _pad-pad_ of Kelly’s bare feet approaching their study. Neither of them actually ever spends any time in here, they only have it because they needed a room with a bunch of shelves to store all their important documents.

He’s sitting on the floor, digging through a box.

He and Kelly argued earlier and he’s still pissed off and Kelly is hovering in the doorway like he isn’t sure if Stevens is going to start yelling if he comes any closer.

It wasn’t even a bad fight. It was just about their holiday plans. Kelly was bugging him about when they were going to leave for the airport and then he couldn’t find his passport and he was getting all antsy and since Stevens was running sort of low on patience this morning, after he broke their toaster, spilled coffee all over the kitchen counter and everything that was on it, and chipped one of his favorite mugs in the process, he accidentally snapped at Kelly.

Stevens honestly didn’t mean to, but Kelly immediately snapped back because Stevens had no reason to be so snappy, and it sort of escalated from there.

“What are you doing?” Kelly asks, his voice quiet, soft, not looking for another fight.

Stevens takes a deep breath. No more fighting. “I’m looking for your passport.”

“I already found it. It was in my backpack, I guess I left it in there after our last roadie, but I put it into a different pocket than I usually do, so I didn’t see it.”

“Oh,” Stevens says and puts the lid on the box.

“Stevie…” Kelly comes over to him and sits down with a foot still between them, knees pulled up against his chest. “Is everything okay? Is it just that you didn’t have the greatest of mornings or is it more than that?”

“It’s not– I was in a bad mood. I’m sorry.”

Kelly nods. Apology accepted.

Stevens realizes that he’s the one who should have come to Kelly to apologize.

“Thanks for looking for my passport, I guess,” Kelly says, smiling now. 

“Yeah, well… There’s some weird stuff in that box.”

“Stuff from Vegas.”

“Yeah.”

“I kept some of it,” Kelly says. His smile is turning sheepish. He knows exactly what’s in that box.

“You kept a receipt from the first time we went to Gonzo’s.”

Kelly rolls his eyes. “Listen… I was stupidly in love with you, I can’t be held responsible for that. Anyway, you still have that photo in your wallet. You know which one.”

“Please, you love that photo.”

Kelly grins.

Stevens has been carrying that photo around with him for over ten years. It was taken at his first practice as a Falconer by one of the social media people. It’s him and Kelly on the ice, clinging to each other, beaming at the camera.

He’s never ever taking it out of his wallet.

*

“The cat hates me,” Stevens says as he wanders into the kitchen.

Kelly resurfaces from behind the fridge door, eyebrows raised. “The cat that always sleeps on your chest when we’re watching TV and pretends I don’t exist?” he asks. “That cat?”

Stevens holds up his arm to show Kelly the claw marks their beloved bundle of fluff has left behind. “He heard a noise and got spooked.”

“But that’s not his fault. Poor kitty.”

“Yeah, go ahead and side with the cat,” Stevens grumbles.

“Aw, Stevie, hey…” Kelly grabs him by the hips and pushes him back against the counter. “You know I love you the most, but don’t tell Crowley, I don’t want my arm to end up looking like that.”

Stevens laughs and wraps his arms around Kelly. “I’ll keep it a secret.”

“Good,” Kelly says and stands on his tiptoes to kiss him. “You’re stubbly.”

“You weren’t complaining this morning.”

“Do you have to drag me like that?”

“I’m not dragging you,” Stevens says. He rubs his cheek against Kelly’s. “Just stating a fact.”

Kelly wiggles away from him, but once Stevens lets go, Kelly leans right back in,  his face pressed into Stevens’ shirt. He has no idea why they always end up cuddling in the kitchen. Probably because Kelly constantly has his head in the fridge and Stevens likes catching him at it. And he likes to make sure that Kelly isn’t eating food that doesn’t belong to him. 

Because, sure, they’re married, but there is food in this kitchen that isn’t for sharing.

Kelly pulls back and gives Stevens’ chest a poke. “Hey, Ez?”

The whole _Ez_ thing has really grown on Kelly. It’s what Mikey always called him back in Hartford. The whole team called him Ez. Kelly hated it. Then he started saying it to chirp him. And now it’s not a chirp anymore. “Yeah?” Stevens says.

Kelly picks at the hem of Steven’s shirt where a thread has come loose. “Do you still want to get a dog?”

When they moved into the house, before they got Crowley, they bickered for hours on end about whether they’d get a cat or a dog. They weren’t allowed to have either in their old apartment and they both wanted a pet, but getting two at the same time seemed like a horrible idea.

Kelly wanted a cat, Stevens wanted a dog, and they were both inclined to let the other have what he wanted, but it still took them ages to come up with some kind of deal. Eventually, Kelly said if he got a cat, Stevens would get to name it.

A few days later, they went to a shelter and Kelly picked the kitten that had fallen asleep in Stevens’ lap while Kelly was playing with the other cats. Stevens named him Crowley. And he loves Crowley with his whole heart and he wasn’t even thinking too much about getting a dog anymore.

He still wants one, though. He’s wanted to get a chocolate lab ever since one of his teammates on the Schooners brought his to practice.

“I want to get a labrador,” Stevens says.

“Of course you do.”

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“It’s fitting, s’all.”

“Oh, is it?”

“Yeah, they’re cute and you’re also… cute.”

“Thanks,” Stevens says dryly.

“You are,” Kelly says. He smirks. “So, since you got to name the cat, do I get to name the dog?”

Stevens doesn’t like it, but it’s only fair. “I can’t wait to have a dog called Batman.”

“Nah, come on, I was thinking something more subtle, like… Skywalker. Or maybe we should name it after something you like. Eggplant. That’s a good name for a dog.”

“If you name my dog Eggplant, I’m filing for divorce.”

“Okay, what about Carrot?”

“You’re such a little shit,” Stevens says and pinches Kelly’s side.

Kelly screeches. “No, no tickling, that’s not fair.”

Stevens pinches him again and Kelly lets out a breathless giggle, squirming away from Stevens and making for the door, looking over his shoulder to make sure Stevens is right behind him.

And of course Stevens is. He always is.

*

“What if I wear this?”

Kelly looks up from his phone when Stevens walks into the living room. “Is that mine?”

Stevens turns around to show Kelly that it is, in fact, his. It’s the Falconers’ first preseason game tomorrow, and it’s in Providence, so Stevens is obviously going to watch Kelly play. He’s been looking for something to wear to the game. He has choices here and even though he already knows that he’s going to put on the new Falconers jersey Kelly brought back for him from the rink the other day, Stevens had way too much fun digging through their closet.

He pulled on his college jersey and he sort of got lost in his memories for a little while. College feels like a lifetime ago. He didn’t know Kelly back then, didn’t know where he’d end up. Whatever he was imagining when he was nineteen or twenty, it certainly wasn’t this. It wasn’t falling in love with a teammate, and moving into a blue house with white windows and adopting a cat with him. It wasn’t getting married to a boy.

Kelly’s not that much of a boy anymore, even though he looks about five years younger than he actually is. He can grow half a beard now, which is a big accomplishment for him.

The jersey Stevens is wearing right now is an old one. When Kelly last wore it, they weren’t even together yet. It’s an Aces jersey, black, white and red.

“Wait, is that the one you bought?” Kelly asks.

“Nope,” Stevens says and flicks the _Stanley Cup Finals_ patch on the jersey. It’s from the year Kelly won the Cup with the Aces.

“Maybe you should wear your old Falconers jersey,” Kelly suggests.

“Yeah, maybe they’ll let me play.”

Kelly scrunches up his nose. “Do you miss it?”

Stevens shrugs. He does, but he doesn’t. He hasn’t had much of a chance to miss it just yet. He trained with Kelly during the summer, only he could stop whenever he wanted to and Kelly had to keep going. It’s strange that he’s not going back to Hartford, that he’s not going anywhere.

It’ll sink in soon enough that Kelly’s going to go away on road trips and that Stevens will stay here, with Crowley and Biscuit. He’ll watch those games on TV and– Well, he’ll have to find something to do. He has a tower of books he wants to read, but that’ll only keep him occupied for so long. He’s been working in the garden so much that Kelly brought home a book about gardening for him. Stevens read it. He has a whole list of stuff he wants to plant.

Still, he wants to find something else. Something that’ll also keep him busy in the winter, something that has a little more to do with hockey.

“Stevie, if you don’t wanna come to the game–”

“Nah, come on, of course I’m coming to your game. A lot of your games, actually.”

Kelly smiles and reaches out to him, sighing happily when Stevens sits down next to him. Kelly plants a not exactly well-aimed kiss on his face, between his chin and his mouth. “Okay, now scoot over, I wanna take a picture.”

“Of what?”

“Of you and the jersey.”

“Why?”

“It’s cute,” Kelly says and kisses him one more time before he snaps the picture.

*

“This movie is _horrible_.”

Stevens puts down his book. “I think your exact words when you put it on were, ‘Wow, this movie looks horrible, this is going to be so entertaining,’ so why exactly are you surprised?”

“It’s not as entertaining as I thought it would be.”

“Change the channel?”

Kelly hums and picks up the remote, flicking from channel to channel. It’s a quiet evening. Kelly got back from a long, long roadie two days ago. He had an early game today and fell asleep with Biscuit on the couch about a minute after he got home. Biscuit is now sleeping in his favorite armchair. Kelly has already posted about three pictures on Instagram. One of the captions was, _his ears are so soft <3_, which Stevens couldn’t even complain about because Biscuit’s ears really are ridiculously soft.

They’re both totally in love with their puppy, although Kelly’s been pretty adamant about giving Crowley enough love so he won’t try to murder them in their sleep.

Stevens goes back to reading, but he doesn’t miss that Kelly quickly gets bored again. Kelly’s fingers slowly trail up Stevens’ thigh, then back to his knee, and up again, lingering there, before continuing their journey further up, to the waistband of Stevens’ sweatpants.

It’s a pretty obvious _Stevie, pay attention to me_ kind of move. And Stevens doesn’t mind. Not at all. Kelly’s fingers slip under his shirt, wandering across his stomach, now with intent.

Kelly leans closer to kiss Stevens’ neck, teeth scraping against his skin. It’s safe to say that Kelly isn’t watching TV anymore. Stevens has given up on reading, too. He puts down his book to _really_ pay attention to Kelly, but just when Stevens has leaned in to kiss him, Stevens’ phone starts ringing.

“Who hates me on this fine Sunday evening?” Kelly mumbles and pulls away, his eyes on Stevens’ phone. “Jack Zimmermann. Okay, you should probably answer that.”

“Probably,” Stevens says and grabs his phone. They still see Jack and Bitty on occasion; they were invited over for dinner last summer and Jack was at the Falcs’ home opener with his whole family, but Jack doesn’t usually call him out of the blue. That’s more Bitty’s thing. “Hey, Jack.”

“Ezra, hi,” Jack says. “Do you have a moment?”

“Sure, yeah. Hang on a second…” Stevens ruffles Kelly’s hair and gets up, mouthing _I’ll tell you later_ to him before he shuffles out of the living room and into the kitchen. “What’s up?”

“Sorry to call this late, but a friend of mine called me just now about a coaching position at Allie’s school. One of their hockey coaches is out long-term for health reasons and they’re looking for someone who could help them out as soon as possible. He was wondering if I could do it or if I knew someone and I said I’d ask around, since I won’t be able to and–”

“And now you’re asking me?”

“Yes, I’m asking you,” Jack says.

“I have no coaching experience. At all.”

“But you have NHL experience,” Jack says. “I know it’s maybe not what you were imagining, coaching a high school team, but I know that you’re good with kids and I think they could learn a lot from you.”

Honestly? Jack is right, it isn’t what he was imagining, but Stevens is seriously considering this. “For how long would they need me?”

“Probably at least until the end of the school year, but I can give you Bernie’s number and you can talk to him yourself if you’re interested.”

“I…” Stevens usually likes to think things through, but in this case there probably won’t be enough time for him to write a pro and con list and to sleep on it and then take another week to think about it just to be sure that it’s the right decision, but it can’t hurt to at least talk to that Bernie guy, right? He doesn’t have to say yes. “Sure, why not.”

“Let me know how everything pans out,” Jack says. “I’ll send you his number. Thanks, Ezra, I–” Jack clears his throat and someone whispers in the background. “Allie would like me to tell you that her school is–”

“ _Awesome_.”

“–awesome and that they’d love to have you.”

“And ask him if Kelly can sign my new Falcs jersey.”

“Al, just ask him when they come over for dinner,” Jack says.

“When are they coming over for dinner?” Allie asks.

“Yeah, when are we coming over for dinner?” Stevens chimes in.

“I’ll ask Bits once he’s back from New York.”

“Sounds good,” Stevens says. “And tell Allie that I’m sure Kelly would love to sign her jersey.”

“I will, I’ll talk to you soon, okay?”

“Okay, bye.”

Stevens stays in the kitchen for a moment longer after he’s hung up the phone. He gets a text with the contact details for a certain Bernie Travis and he’s actually excited about making this call.

He does miss hockey.

Before he calls Bernie Travis, though, Stevens has to talk to Kelly about this.

Kelly is exactly where Stevens left him, only now he has Crowley in his lap, purring like a lawnmower. “What did Jack want?” Kelly asks.

“He called about a coaching job.”

“I’ll be excited as soon as you tell me that this coaching job isn’t in California.”

As if Stevens would even consider taking a coaching job in California. “It’s at Allie’s high school,” he says.

Kelly grins. “Tell me everything.”

*

When Kelly shows up after an Eagles practice for the first time, the boys sort of just… gape. Kelly walks in five minutes before the end, sits down behind the bench and watches. He waves at Stevens, but other than he doesn’t say or do anything.

It’s Tommy Edwards who notices him first and skates right into a group of his teammates.

Stevens doesn’t even manage to say hello to Kelly for a while because the boys are crowding around him, asking him questions. They take a photo with the whole team as well and Kelly promises that he’ll come back and actually play with them. Most of the boys, after Stevens lets them head back to the locker room, return with their phones to ask for selfies.

The guys were somewhat floored when Stevens showed up for his first practice with the team as well, but Kelly is one of those players that almost everyone around here knows if they’re at least a little into hockey. He’s been with the Falcs for over a decade, he’s been to the All Star Game twice, he was there when they won the Cup six years ago, and he’s still one of their top players.

Once everyone has dispersed, Kelly gives Stevens a nudge. “Hey, Coach.”

“Hey, Kells.”

“Sorry for barging in like this,” Kelly says. “Some lady let me in?”

“It’s fine,” Stevens says. “That was probably Emily, she’s in charge of the rink. Do you wanna go grab a bite somewhere? I just gotta put the nets away.”

“Yeah, sure, although… I brought my skates.”

“So I guess I don’t have to put the nets away yet.”

“No one else coming?”

“There’s a figure skating class coming in in about half an hour.”

“Well, it’s better than nothing.”

Kelly pulls on his skates while Stevens gets him a spare stick and they shoot a puck back and forth for a while until Emily shows up and pointedly opens the Zamboni entrance. It’s fun to skate with Kelly again, to goof around a bit, even though after practice and after chasing Kelly around the rink, his knee quietly starts acting up again.

Stevens makes sure that his team hasn’t left behind a mess, then he and Kelly make for their cars. Kelly’s parked right next to him and Stevens catches himself finding it weirdly adorable.

“So,” Kelly says and slings an arm around Stevens, “can I take you out for dinner?”

“Sure, where do you want to go?”

“I’ll meet you at Mario’s, okay?”

“Mario’s, huh?” Stevens asks. It’s not a place they go to that often, not because they can’t afford it, but because it’s where they go for dates. For birthdays and Valentine’s Day if their schedules match up. It’s their special occasion place.

“I know it’s not where we’d usually go, but I wanna take you out on a date, we haven’t been out on a date since your birthday. That was weeks ago.”

“It’s fine, I don’t mind being taken out on a date.”

“Good,” Kelly says. “It comes with all the other date benefits.”

Stevens laughs. “Oh, does it?”

“It does,” Kelly says and winks before he lets go of him to unlock his car. “Promise.”

*

“I like what Jack and Bitty did.”

“Uh-huh,” Stevens says, even though he actually has no idea what the hell Kelly is talking about. He’s making chocolate cake, and the dough is all over the counter and smeared over his fingers, because he nearly knocked over the bowl.

Because Kelly seemed to think that walking into the kitchen in nothing but a towel was a good idea.

He put on a shirt and sweatpants when he was done laughing at Stevens and now he’s leaning against the counter, smiling softly, slowly drying strands of hair sticking to his forehead. He looks good. He looks really, really good and Stevens needs to get this cake into the oven so he can focus on Kelly.

“What do you think?” Kelly asks.

“About what?”

“About what Jack and Bitty did.”

“Oh, uh…” Stevens starts to scrape the dough out of the bowl and into a heart-shaped cake tin. It’s a cake for Allie’s birthday; he’s going to decorate it later and he’s going to have to find a way to keep Kelly out of the kitchen so he won’t eat all the icing before Stevens has a chance to put it on the cake. “What is this about exactly?”

“You know, when they adopted Allie…”

“I still don’t–”

“Well, she wasn’t a baby when they adopted her, right?” Kelly says. “There’s so many kids out there who don’t have parents, I mean, when we talked about kids, we never really specified, did we? We never said we’d want a _baby_.”

“Right,” Stevens says. “Where is this coming from all of a sudden?”

“I don’t know I just started thinking about it, because you’re making that cake for her.” Kelly scratches the back of his head. “And maybe that’s something we can look into. Like, maybe not… tomorrow. But soon.”

“Soon,” Stevens echoes.

“Yeah. Like… next year.”

“Next year is in two weeks, Kells.”

“Well, we don’t need to set an exact date for it, do we?”

“No, of course not,” Stevens says. “Next year it is.”

“Okay,” Kelly says, nodding slowly.

There’s something else.

Kelly is hovering, staring at the floor, chewing on his bottom lip. He’s restless, like he always is when there’s something he wants to get off his chest. Stevens is already starting a countdown in his head.

He washes his hands, gets off the dough and dumps the bowl in the sink. He puts his cake in the oven. Sets the timer.

Then Kelly clears his throat.

“Would it bother you if we had a kid and I was away on roadies all the time and you’d be like…” Kelly trails off and shrugs.

“A stay-at-home dad?”

“Yeah.”

Stevens can’t help but smile. “You know, I think I’d like that.”

Kelly tilts his head, his smile a little slower to appear. “You would?”

“I would,” Stevens says and reaches out to tug at Kelly’s shirt. He likes the thought of being a dad, taking their kid to Falconers games, waving at Kelly through the glass during warm-ups. He doesn’t mention any of that, though. Not yet.

“Okay, so…” Kelly nods again, like he still has to convince himself of something. “Next year.”

Stevens almost wants to tell Kelly that there’s no need for them to rush this, but he also knows that they wouldn’t even be talking about this right now if Kelly wasn’t at least a little bit ready.

He pulls Kelly close. “Next year.”

*

On Kelly’s birthday, Stevens wakes up in an empty bed, which is weird because Kelly doesn’t have anywhere to be just yet. It’s still early and Kelly has to leave for practice in a bit, but there’s more than enough time for a nice birthday breakfast. In bed.

Or that was the plan until Stevens’ alarm rang and Kelly wasn’t sleeping next to him anymore. Stevens groans and crawls out of bed. The door to their bathroom is open a crack and the lights are on, so Kelly is fairly easy to find.

“Kells?”

Kelly is standing at the mirror, inspecting his head. “Hey, come here and look at this. Is that a gray hair?”

Stevens steps up behind him and looks at the hair Kelly is holding between his fingertips. He nudges the back of Kelly’s head. ”No, but this is…”

“What?” Kelly reaches behind his head. “Where?”

“Kells, come on, you have like three grey hairs, that’s not even bad.” Stevens isn’t so lucky, although his beard is a lot grayer than his hair.

Kelly frowns at himself in the mirror. “I don’t like it.”

“Well, I do,” Stevens says and wraps his arms around Kelly.

With a sigh, Kelly leans back against him, looking up at him with a broad grin on his face. “You like my three gray hairs?”

“Absolutely.” Stevens kisses him. “Happy birthday.”

“Honestly, I can’t deal with this getting older business, I want it to stop now. Although…” He tilts his head and trails his fingers along Stevens’ arm. “I guess if I still look as good as you do four years from now, I can live with that.”

“Oh, really?” Stevens mumbles and runs his hands down Kelly’s sides to the waistband of his boxers.

Kelly’s breath hitches. “Really.”

“Come back to bed,” Stevens says.

“But I’m having an existential crisis,” Kelly protests.

“Well, I guess if you don’t want breakfast in bed, that’s fine.”

“Suddenly I’m perfectly fine with turning thirty-four.”

“That’s what I thought,” Stevens says. “Do you want your cake now or later?”

“Later.”

“Pancakes, then?”

“Yeah, but before you get started on the pancakes, can you come back to bed with me for a bit?”

“If that’s what the birthday boy wants…”

Kelly smiles and there’s a twinkle in his eyes that speaks of trouble ahead. But it’s the kind of trouble Stevens doesn’t mind at all. “Yeah,” Kelly says, “come on.”

Stevens lets himself be tugged back into bed.

He probably won’t make those pancakes from scratch today.

**Author's Note:**

> Kudos and comments are very much appreciated :)
> 
> I'm @zimmermaenner on tumblr if you wanna drop by!


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